The present invention relates to an attachment system for temporarily attaching a portable apparatus, such as a mobile phone, radio or camera, to a belt or the like according to the first part of the following enclosed independent claims.
Known attachment systems of this kind comprise typically a holder which can be fastened to the belt and a connecting member which is attached to the apparatus. This invention relates primarily to systems, in which the holder comprises a base, a front plate connected thereto and a so called locking part, and in which the connecting member attached to the apparatus comprises an annular connecting member or part which protrudes axially outwards from the apparatus.
With the increasing use of portable personal apparatuses, mobile phones in particular, a need has arisen for personal holders by means of which the apparatus can easily be fastened to a belt or other garment or the dashboard of a car, from where it can easily be detached for use, preferably with one hand. Further, the holder should preferably be attachable to a casing or some other kind of protective cover, so that the apparatus can be safely and securely carried around or kept to prevent e.g. an accidental pressing down of the keys of the apparatus. Further, the portable apparatus carried on the belt should be disposable in the holder in a position that is comfortable for the wearer or, preferably, in a position where the apparatus is not felt at all, in other words, is the least in the way.
The problem with the known attachment systems is to obtain a connection between the apparatus and the holder that is reliable enough and, at the same time, comfortable to the wearer. In some known solutions a reliable locking is achieved, but at the cost of a substantially impaired user comfort because of the complexity of the fastening mechanism. Often also the size of the holder is larger than desired.
In some known solutions the flexibility of plastic is utilized in the so called snap-locked systems. The force needed for the unlocking snap has to be rather small, and thus the apparatus may also easily be unintentionally detached from its locking position and fall down, and get damaged or lost. It has also been suggested, e.g. in the Finnish patent application No. 942306, that the mobile phone be fastened to the holder using spring force. With his system the phone can be turned round its fixing point 360.degree. without getting detached. The phone is detached from the holder by pressing down the holder with one hand and at the same time lifting the phone upwards with the other, in other words, both hands are needed to detach the telephone.
In some other known systems, the apparatus itself is provided with a stationary belt holder, in which case both the apparatus and the belt holder must be detached from the belt when the apparatus is being used. Even this fastening system is not necessarily completely reliable, as it is possible for the fastening of the detachable belt holder to the garment to fail. A great disadvantage is furthermore the fact that the apparatus cannot freely turn in the plane of the holder and thus cannot follow the movements of the person wearing the apparatus.
It is the object of the present invention to obtain a better system than the previously known attachment systems. The object is thus to obtain an attachment system which is reliable and easy to use, and in which the apparatus is easily and securely both attached to the holder and detached from it.
Another object is to achieve an attachment system which secures the apparatus to e.g. a belt in the desired position until the person wearing it wants to detach it.
Another object is to achieve an attachment system of a simple and space-saving design.
Yet another object is to achieve an attachment system that allows the apparatus to turn up to 360.degree. in the plane of the: holder, in which case the apparatus can easily and securely be worn in a holder attached to e.g. a belt.
To achieve the objects described above, the attachment system according to the invention is characterized by what is defined in the second part of the enclosed independent claims.
A preferred attachment system according to the invention comprises a holder attachable to a belt or the like and a separate connecting member fixed to the apparatus to be attached, such as a mobile phone.
In this case the actual holder preferably comprises
a plate-like base which is to be fastened to e.g. a belt or the like support, PA1 a front plate connected to the base and partially covering the side of the base which is against the apparatus and which front plate is provided with a slot and PA1 a locking member which is stationarily disposed at the slot in the base to protrude from the base.
The connecting member attached to the apparatus in its turn comprises an annular connecting member mounted on a supporting pin and protruding axially outwards from the apparatus. The wall of the annular connecting member is provided with a gap or groove large enough for the locking part located in the holder to go through, allowing the locking member to radially be pushed in and out of the annular connecting member. The inner diameter (d) of the connecting member has to be large enough to allow it to axially turn around the locking part in the holder, preferably 360.degree.. The outer diameter (D) of the annular connecting member in its turn has to be larger than the width (a) of the slot in the front plate of the holder in order to hold the connecting member in the holder, disposed at the slot between the base and the front plate.
The connecting member is preferably fastened to the back of the apparatus, but can also be fastened to the front part of the apparatus when desired, in which case naturally the use and the possible cover plate of the apparatus has to be considered in the design and the attachment system of the connecting member. The connecting member can e.g. be arranged to be turnable in the way that, while attached to the casing, it protrudes from the surface of the apparatus, but while used, can be turned out of the way, e.g. level with the surface of the apparatus. It is naturally also possible to have the connecting member pushed inside the casing of the apparatus when not needed.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the front plate of the holder comprises two plate-like vertical parts and a plate-like bottom part which connects the vertical parts forming a broad U-shaped front plate. The front plate can be formed in one piece or combining several pieces when needed. This U-shaped front plate leaves an uncovered vertical slot in the plate-like base, which at its one end, i.e. the upper end, is open and at its other end, i.e. the bottom end, is at least partly closed. The slot is typically of equal width along its entire length and vertical, but can of course be designed in some other suitable way when desired.
The slot in the front plate of the holder allows the annular connecting member to move in the vertical direction of the slot in the locking housing formed between the front plate and the plate-like base. The annular connecting member or connecting part travels inside the locking housing and its supporting pin or neck, which has a smaller diameter than the annular connecting member, travels in the slot of the front plate. The slot in the front plate is narrow enough to prevent the annular connecting member, at least when the apparatus is not in use, from being pulled out perpendicularly from the locking housing.
The locking part disposed at the slot in the base of the holder is fixed to the base, preferably close to the closed end of the slot, in the way that it protrudes from the base almost up to the plane of the front plate, however, leaving between the locking part and the front plate a space large enough for the annular connecting member to be inserted there and locked to the locking part.
The locking part is preferably an oblong piece, with a maximal length equalling the length of the inner diameter of the annular connecting member, in order to allow the locking part to be inserted in the annular connecting member and the connecting member to be turned round the locking part.
The width of the locking part in its turn is slightly smaller than the width of the radial gap arranged in the wall of the annular connecting member in order to allow the locking part to be inserted, in its longitudinal direction, through the gap in the annular connecting member and pushed out of it. The gap arranged in the wall of the annular connecting member only allows the locking part to radially be pushed out from the annular connecting member when the connecting member and the locking part are in a certain position in relation to each other, the closed portion of the periphery of the annular connecting member preventing the locking part from coming out from the annular connecting member when these are in any other position in relation to each other. It is naturally possible, if desired, to arrange several gaps or slots in the wall of the annular connecting member, e.g. both at the 10 o'clock and the 2 o'clock positions, thus allowing the locking part to be pushed out from the annular connecting member in both these positions.
If desired, the attachment system can be arranged the other way round so that the plate-like base and the front plate disposed in it are fastened to the apparatus instead of to the holder. In this case the connecting member is disposed in the holder, in other words, the annular connecting member is fixed to the holder in the way that it protrudes axially outward from it.
A preferred embodiment according to the invention also comprises a protective cover or case for the apparatus. The case preferably comprises an oblong back-plate, in the first end, generally the upper end, of which a holder, e.g. for a mobile phone, according to the invention is disposed, and a protective plate, which is arranged to cover about e.g. 30-60% of the front side of the back-plate, generally the lower part of the back-plate.
The holder is disposed in the back-plate turnable round its axis. The holder can be fixed to the back-plate using various known methods which allow the holder to turn round an axis typically perpendicular to the back-plate. The holder is preferably disposed in an opening arranged in the back-plate, the periphery of which is designed so as to receive the holder and to lock it to the opening in the way that the holder can be turned 90.degree., preferably 360.degree., round an axis perpendicular to the back-plate.
The protective plate of the case is fixed to the back-plate at its edges so as to form a pocket. The pocket opens towards its upper part, i.e. towards the holder. In addition, one of the longitudinal sides of the back-plate of the pocket is at least partly open, allowing the apparatus attached to the holder to be inserted in the pocket formed between the back-plate and the protective plate by means of a swivel motion. When the case is turned in the horizontal position, the longitudinal, open side of the pocket forms the upper side of it. The protective front plate of the pocket can deviate from the rectangular form in the way that the height of the pocket from the base of the back-plate may vary so that the height of the pocket on one side is bigger than on the other. In this case, the completely or partly open side is preferably shorter than the other side, which, especially when the case is in the horizontal position, supports the apparatus placed in the pocket.
To prevent the mobile phone from swinging inside the pocket, a protrusion or the like may be arranged in the bottom of the pocket to support the telephone from its bottom or side. The protrusion can be provided with a spring arrangement for pressing the protrusion against the telephone.
In addition, fastening members are arranged in the case or protective cover to fasten it to a belt, wall rack, bag, dashboard of a car or the like. The fastening members for fixing the case to a belt typically comprise belt loops disposed both in the holder and the back-plate, on the back side of them, i.e. the side that is away from the protective front plate. The belt loop disposed on the back side of the holder is turnable, along with the holder itself, around the axis of the holder, preferably at least 90.degree., most preferably 360.degree., relative to the back-plate. By means of the two belt loops, the apparatus can also be fastened to the belt in the horizontal position or any other position deviating from the vertical position that feels more comfortable for the wearer than carrying an apparatus that dangles down from the belt.
The case according to the invention can, of course, be fixed at a desired place using conventional fixing members, such as screws, e.g. to the dashboard of a car.
In an arrangement according to the invention, a holder of the description above is preferably used. Another kind of holder attachable to the back-plate of the case and functioning in a corresponding way, i.e. allowing the back-plate and the holder to turn relative to each other, may be used.
The present system according to the invention is based on a design that does not allow the apparatus to be freely released from the holder at any position of the sector of 360.degree. but only at one or, when desired, several, exactly defined positions. The release positions can be designed so as to make sure that the probability for the apparatus accidentally getting into a position corresponding to the release position is very little. Thus for example, instead of the 360.degree. release sector known in snap-locking, the release range in arrangements according to the invention can be in a sector of no larger than 20.degree.. Even a smaller release range, such as a sector of 5-15.degree., is possible. The use comfort can, however, be impaired if the release range is very limited. The release range can of course be larger, e.g. a sector of 30-60.degree., but then the risk for the apparatus to be detached accidentally increases. On the other hand, several smaller release positions, totalling a sector of 30-60.degree., can be preferred, depending on the case in question.